You may have a supportive pillow and the latest memory foam mattress, but have you equipped your household with weighted blankets yet? This article will discuss the benefits of these state of the art blankets, which have helped lots of people improve their sleep.
They Decrease Anxiety
ZZZ Review suggests that weighted blankets decrease anxiety. The feeling is all too familiar: as soon as your head hits the pillow, your mind begins to race, and nothing will quiet it. Problems with work, money, or relationships tower over the bed, threatening to crush you. They seem a thousand times worse than during the day.
Weighted blankets have been shown to reduce anxiety by correspondingly reducing nervous system activity. Combined with some peaceful meditation, a calming weighted blanket will help you drift off to sleep sooner than you may imagine.
They Stimulate Production of Oxytocin
Oxytocin is the hormone mothers produce when breastfeeding and in early maternity in general. It accounts for the bond between mother and child. It brings about a sense of calm and stimulates feelings of closeness. It’s the feeling you get when someone you love gives you a warm hug and the feeling you’ll get when you nestle under the warm weighted blanket. Oxytocin is also involved in female sexual arousal, emotional memories, and social bonding. It regulates our sleep-wakefulness cycle. According to a 2017 study, the more oxytocin we produce during sleep, the longer and better our sleep.
They Increase Serotonin
By providing warm, gentle pressure, weighted blankets make people feel like someone is holding them. This effect, known as Deep Touch Pressure, increases the so-called happiness hormone of serotonin. This hormone also plays a part in regulating sleep. It can relieve stress and pain while boosting your immune system.
They Reduce Restlessness
A weighted blanket is just the ticket if you toss and turn all night or are regularly woken up by a partner who is not a peaceful sleeper. The blanket’s evenly distributed weights exert a soft force downward across the body, encouraging stillness and deterring movement.
They Decrease Cortisol
Cortisol is an alerting hormone that makes it hard to fall asleep if it peaks in the evening. Studies show that deep pressure stimulation, like that weighted blankets provide, reduces cortisol levels. Normally, cortisol production should drop in the evening as the body gets ready for sleep, but feelings of anxiety and stress will interfere with this otherwise natural process. The blanket’s gentle pressure will help your body thanks to its much-needed suppression of the alerting hormone.
Elevated cortisol levels that don’t drop down to normal levels naturally can lead to chronic pain, intense anxiety, more sleeplessness, depression, or weight gain, among other worrying complications. Applying “grounding techniques” during sleep is an efficient way to match sleep-wake cycles with cortisol secretion.
People who took part in a recent study found that the technique helped limit cortisol secretion during sleep, thereby reducing stress, improving sleep quality, and reducing pain. With time, their insomnia started to improve. Women reported better results than men.
Buying a Weighted Blanket: Considerations
In general, the flight blanket’s weight should not exceed 10% of yours. Some blankets don’t consider bodyweight, which is a problem.
When shopping for one, look at what is used to weigh it down. This can vary from glass or metal beads to plastic pellets. The blanket should never hang off to the side of the bed.
Exercise a high degree of caution if buying a weighted blanket for a child. Experts recommend only putting a blanket on children when they go to bed, observing them at regular intervals, and then removing the blanket. There have been accidents with children using weighted blankets in the past. You can read reviews of the best weighted blankets for children on ZZZ.
Finally, you should be able to move around freely under the blanket. Feeling crushed isn’t a good sign! Avoid using one if you suffer from claustrophobia or asthma.
